Everyone Deserves Defense

'This I believe' is independently produced by Jay Alison and Dan Gan Gediman with John Gregory and Viki Merrick. Our new book 'This I believe volume 2' collecting 75 essays from the series is now available from the NPR shop and from NPR.org/thisibelieve.

You are listening to all things considered from NPR News.

I believe in mystery. I believe in family. I believe in being who I am. I believe in the power of failure. I believe normal life is extraordinary. This I believe.

Some beliefs are hard to practice in real life, today's 'this I believe' essay was sent to us by Peter Keane. For 20 years he was the chief assistant public defender of San Francisco, he represented scores of defendants accused of committing horrifying crimes. Keane is often asked how we can justify defending on murderer or rapist. He answers with his belief. Here is a serious curator independent producer Jay Alison.

Peter Keane told that his daughter convinced him to write this essay. When she was young she used to attend his trials, and she heard him repeat this belief over and over, a belief she said that should be chiseled on his tomb stone. Here's Peter Keane with his essay for 'This I believe'.

"Would you defend Saddam Hussein? How about Hitler? Would you be his lawyer?

People ask me this all the time, the names of the bad guys change, but the question is always the same. My answer is always,"yes, I would." It has to be, because I believe everyone, no matter what they have done, deserves to have one person on their side.

I've spent most of my life as a criminal defense attorney, for 20 years I was a public defender. My clients committed every kind of terrible crime imaginable. I defended each one of them with every ounce of skill, creativity and tenacity that I had. In the end, most of my clients were convicted of something, for that's simply the nature of the criminal justice system. It's an uphill struggle for anyone who is charged with a crime. All the power and resources of the state, the police and the prosecution are hurled against that one person. And the only protection to all of that is one lawyer.

But despite the odds, there were a number of people whom I might（删除） helped to go free. Sometimes I convinced the judge to throw out a case because of a legal defect, sometimes I convinced the jury to return the verdict of not guilty. Many of those people that I helped to acquit were guilty; someone on to commit other crimes. One client found not guilty of murder killed another person shortly after his release. I defended him again in the second time around. He was convicted but not because I defended him with any less vigor.

How do I feel about the 30 years I did this work? I'm proud of it. Did my conscience wrestle with me in a moral dialogue? Sure.

In court rooms I confronted victims whose lives, bodies and often whose very souls have been forever shattered. Sometimes in their eyes I saw members of my own family, sometimes I saw myself. The battle within me was fierce, and it took its toll sleepless nights anxiety in depression. But in the end, my belief in what I was doing prevailed over my misgivings.

I know that most people have great difficulty understanding this. Indeed, many are horrified by it. But reflect for a moment, there is one key mechanism in our society that protects and maintains all of our freedoms. It is that we go by the rule that whenever some does something that we condemn, no matter what it is, he still gets one person to speak up for him.

Take away this protection and all of our other democratic rights which are so carefully woven into the constitutional design of our republic, but come meaningless. Without resistance from lawyers who represent people being prosecuted, all freedom is ultimately lost, because it is the natural human tendency of those willpower to abuse those without it.

I'm a law professor now, I teach my students to be proud to defend anyone, no matter what they may have done. I want them to stand up for the world's Saddam Husseins and Osama bin Ladens, for America accuse rapists and murderers and thieves. I want my students to fight for them, ethically, but with all the fierce determination, talent and skill that they have. One person on your side, no matter what you have done, that's what keeps us a free people. That's what I believe.

Peter Keane with his essay for 'This I believe'. Keane says the criminal defence attorneys must find a way to believe in their work, or else the conflict and stress will overcome them, something he’s seen too often. At NPR.org/thisibelieve you'll find information on submitting your own essay. For This I believe, I'm Jay Alison.

Independent producer Jay Alison along with Dan Gan Gediman, John Gregory and Viki Merrick added in the new book 'This I believe volume 2'. More personal philosophies of remarkable men and women.

Support for This I believe comes from prudential retirement.